Rich and poor vaccine divide worsening, warns WHO

Thursday, January 28, 2021 - 01:00

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The COVID-19 vaccine divide between rich and poor nations is worsening by the day, the World Health Organization warned Monday, insisting the failure to distribute doses fairly could cost the global economy trillions of dollars.

世界卫生WHO周一发出警告新冠疫苗正在恶化穷国与富国之间的差距，如果坚持不公平分配剂量，可能会让全球经济损失数万亿美元。

The WHO said it needed $26 billion this year for its programme aimed at speeding up the development, procurement and equitable delivery of vaccines, treatments and tests to beat the coronavirus pandemic.

“Rich countries are rolling out vaccines, while the world’s least-developed countries watch and wait,” lamented WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“Every day that passes, the divide grows larger between the world’s haves and have nots,” he told a press conference.

“Vaccine nationalism might serve short-term political goals. But it’s in every nation’s own medium and long-term economic interest to support vaccine equity.”

世卫组织表示为了抵抗新冠全球大流行，加速疫苗、治疗方法和测试的开发、生产及公平配送，今年需要260亿美元用于WHO支持其项目发展。谭德塞对媒体哀痛的说道“富国推出新的疫苗，而世界欠发达国家只能观望和等待。每过一天，国与国之间的鸿沟在扩大。疫苗民族主义可能会服务于短期的政治目标。但是，支持疫苗平等符合每个国家自身的中长期经济利益。””。

roll out： 推出 (新产品或服务) •On Thursday Microsoft rolls out its new operating system. 在星期四微软推出了它的新操作系统。

lament /ləˈment/ 1.对…感到悲痛；痛惜；对…表示失望•In the poem he laments the destruction of the countryside. 在那首诗里他对乡村遭到的破坏流露出悲哀。2.挽歌；哀诗；悼词

Tedros cited a study commissioned by the Research Foundation of the International Chamber of Commerce, which represents more than 45 million companies in over 100 countries.

“Vaccine nationalism could cost the global economy up to $9.2 trillion, and almost half of that -- $4.5 trillion -- would be incurred in the wealthiest economies,” he said.

谭德塞援引代表100多个国家的4500多万家企业的国际商会研究基金会委托进行的一项研究。他说:“疫苗民族主义可能导致全球经济损失高达9.2万亿美元，其中近一半(4.5万亿美元)将发生在最富裕的经济体。”

The report said that the financial damage of the pandemic in wealthy countries could not be fixed unless the impact of the crisis in developing nations was also addressed, due to the inter-connectivity of economies around the globe.

Tedros said investing in the so-called ACT Accelerator programme, to try to curtail the pandemic on a pooled and equitable basis, was therefore not charity, but simply “economic common sense”.

“Numbers can make us numb to what they represent: every death is someone’s parent, someone’s partner, someone’s child, someone’s friend.

“Vaccines are giving us hope, which is why every life we lose now is even more tragic. We must take heart, take hope and take action,” Tedros said.

He urged people to stick to the basics of physical distancing, hand washing, avoiding crowds and wearing masks while waiting their turn to get immunised.

该报告说，由于全球各经济体之间的相互联系，除非危机对发展中国家的影响也得到解决，否则疫情对富裕国家造成的金融损害是无法消除的。谭德塞表示投资ACT加速项目，试图在集中共享和公平的基础上遏制疫情，不是慈善，而只是“经济常识”。“数字会让我们对它们所代表的东西麻木:每一次死亡都是某人的父母、伴侣、孩子、朋友。“疫苗给了我们希望，这就是为什么我们现在失去的每一个生命都更加悲惨。我们要振作精神，满怀希望，采取行动。他敦促人们坚持基本的社交距离、勤洗手、避开人群并在等待接种疫苗时戴上口罩。

Curtail  v. /kɜːˈteɪl/ 限制；缩短；减缩 • Spending on books has been severely curtailed. 购书开支已被大大削减。

pool 做动词有集中资源以便共享的意思。 •The students work individually, then pool their ideas in groups of six. 学生先分头工作，然后六人一组交流心得。

Numb  /nʌm/  1.麻木的；失去知觉的 •to be/go numb 麻木；失去知觉 •numb with cold 冻僵；2.麻木的；迟钝的；呆滞的 •He felt numb with shock. 他惊呆了。

Michael Ryan, the WHO’s emergencies director, said only one disease, smallpox, had ever been eradicated, so the availability of vaccines against COVID-19 did not mean the disease could be wiped of the face of the Earth.

“The bar for success is reducing the capacity of this virus to kill, put people in hospital and destroy our economic and social lives,” he said.

Meanwhile Bruce Aylward, the WHO’s ACT Accelerator hub chief, said the goal of vaccination was merely to take the heat out of the pandemic by the end of 2021.

“But it is going to take making some tough choices about how we equitably use and allocate what is, right now, a scarce product -- and will be for some months to come.” - AFP

世界卫生组织紧急事务主任迈克尔·瑞安(Michael Ryan)表示，迄今为止只有一种疾病被根除，那就是天花，因此COVID-19疫苗供应并不意味着这种疾病可以从地球上消失。他说:“防控疫情的难点是如何降低这种病毒的杀伤力，如何把人送进医院，减少对我们经济和省会生活的破坏。” 与此同时，世卫组织ACT加速中心主任布鲁斯·艾尔沃德(Bruce Aylward)表示，接种疫苗的目标仅仅是在2021年底前让大流行降温。“但我们需要做出一些艰难的选择，如何公平地使用和分配这种目前和未来几个月都很稀缺的产品。”--法新社

eradicate v. /ɪˈrædɪkeɪt/ ~ sth (from sth)  根除；消灭；杜绝 • Polio has been virtually eradicated in Brazil. 在巴西脊髓灰质炎实际上已经根除。

Bar：意义多样。我们常见的是量词，一条咖啡， a bar of coffee。能量棒之类的零食很多都用这个词。它还有阻碍的意思。~ (to sth) 障碍；羁绊 •At that time being a woman was a bar to promotion in most professions. 那时在大多数职业中，身为女性就是晋升的障碍。

原文链接：http://www.dailynews.lk/2021/01/28/world/240006/rich-and-poor-vaccine-divide-worsening-warns-who